Sunday, August 10, 2008

You get home and tear open your new mobile phone box, you are so excited! For 300 or so odd bucks you got a cell phone that can do everything you every thought a phone could do. You think to yourself… why do I need a laptop or a desktop… and promptly take your two week vacation from work leaving your laptop behind. For a total of two gadget heaven days you and your new best friend snap pictures at the park, jam on the beach to Rihanna, and take bubble baths searching Google for native hotspots.... Ahhh.

And then the unthinkable happens, a ringing sound comes from your phone… is it talking back to you? As you look more closely you realize that it’s your boss and he wants that report emailed in pdf to him, immediately. With your laptop in California while you’re in Paris you look at your new mobile phone disgusted. Discouraged you hail a cab and head to the nearest library as you call the local hottie to say the private site seeing tour is off.

It didn’t have to be like that if you had took the time out to researched your gadget and realized that it can do more than you thought it could. Did you know that non technology experts use only use 1/3 of the technology they own? In this three part series, I’m going to give you tips on how to use your mobile phone, laptop, and iPod more effectively and hopefully leave your more to shop.

Mobile Phones

Tip 1: Skype is awesome… I know I love it, but it’s not just for your PC. You can make free voice calls from your PC and your smart phone… if it’s a Windows Mobile 6.1 device. To download just select the Cab file, store it in your mobile device, and launch it locally. But from experience, don’t try this at home unless you have at least 12MB of device memory space or 6 MB of external memory card space depending on where you install Skype; otherwise you’ll be forced to delete those summer picks of your best bikini shots (the ones you starved yourself for 2 weeks to fit into). And for all you fashionistas that don’t keep up with the latest gadgets, it’s also compatible with all the old Windows Mobile device. So call your sister and California and tell her to email you that report at no cost. To download Skype to your windows mobile device visit http://www.skype.com/mobile and to learn more about making calls from your cell phone visit http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/togo.

Tip 2: You really don’t need a computer to create and send documents in different file formats. All-Format Writer a freeware Java J2ME-based application that allows you to create and send out simple documents on the mobile phone in a number formats including OpenDocument Format (ODT), Microsoft’s Office Open XML (DOCX), China’s national electronic document format Unified Office Format (UOF) and Portable Document Format (PDF). It is available for immediate download at http://teavuihuang.com/allformatwriter. It is free for personal use and supports phones with J2ME & JSR 75 (FileConnection). e.g. Nokia 6120c, Sony Ericsson W810i etc. For more info visit http://teavuihuang.com/allformatwriter.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Laptops…. As always feel free to comment below for more tips or to give me your own! Also vote for this post and many of my others at MyITThings.